


Fake Dates and Dinners

by books_and_music



Category: The Folk of the Air - Holly Black
Genre: Angst, Christmas Dinner, Confessions, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Implied/Referenced Cheating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:54:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25853203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/books_and_music/pseuds/books_and_music
Summary: Jude needs a boyfriend for her family's Christmas dinner. So she forces Cardan to pretend they're in a relationship
Relationships: Jude Duarte/Cardan Greenbriar
Comments: 4
Kudos: 57





	Fake Dates and Dinners

**Author's Note:**

> This was for the Jurdannet Christmas in July // prompt 11: “’I need you to be my pretend BF/GF for my family’s Christmas dinner.’” Enjoy!

“What did you say?” Cardan asked, looking up from his computer, his signature smirk playing on his lips. 

Jude sighed, before wondering for the thousandth time if she was this desperate and whether it would be less painful to suffer at dinner or now. However, she had made it this far so she might as well follow through.

“I said, can you pretend to be my boyfriend for my family’s Christmas dinner?” Jude asked for the second time. 

“Oh, I heard you the first time, I just wanted to see you squirm,” he answered, winking while gathering his things. However, before Jude could hit him over the head with her book he said, “Anyway, yes, I will come- only because your cook makes the best mashed potatoes I’ve ever had and I’m curious to see what made you desperate enough to ask me to come,” and with that, Cardan walked away.

“You’re a real asshole you know that right?” Jude called to his retreating back. 

His only answer was a dark chuckle and Jude tried to ignore the pleasant tightening in her stomach.

~~~

Jude nervously smoothed down her dress on the day of the dinner. The top portion was a black halter top that left most of her back exposed with white crystals making a pattern of lines on it. More crystals made 3 horizontal lines where it cinched around her waist. As it continued to flow down, the gauzy material faded from a dark blue/black to more of a cobalt. She had curled her hair in loose waves and only wore a bit of mascara and lip gloss on her face.

She cursed herself for even caring what Cardan would think. What did his opinion matter to her? However, before she could make herself even more nervous, the doorbell rang. 

She quickly opened the door to see Cardan there, looking as deviously handsome as always in a white button-down and faded blue jeans, his dark hair slightly mussed, and his coal-dark eyes bright. 

For a few minutes the two of them simply stared at each other, taking the other one in. Jude swallowed hard, so lost in his depthless eyes that she nearly jumped when she heard a throat clearing behind her. She whirled around to see Taryn standing behind her, all of her focus on Cardan.

“Dinner’s ready so you can come down to the dining room,” she said, and even though her words were directed at Jude, her eyes didn’t stray from Cardan. 

Jude simply nodded once, and, satisfied the her message had been received, Taryn headed back to the dining room with Cardan and Jude in tow. The rest of her ‘family’ was sitting in their usual formation- Madoc at the head of the table, Oriana sitting at his left hand, her spine stiff and straight with her mouth in a straight line, Oak across from her, and Taryn sitting next to Oriana. The only new occupant was Locke who sat next to Taryn. She heard Cardan’s quiet, quick inhale when he saw his former best friend seated at the table.

Locke turned to them as the entered and even though the smile on his face seemed genuine, the way he looked at Jude made her feel oily and she gritted her teeth and reminded herself that she didn’t want to get blood on her dress as she continued to meet his stare and walk with her head held high, even though she wanted to look away. 

She wouldn’t- couldn’t let Locke ruin this dinner for her- not the same way he had cracked her heart and ruined her relationship with Taryn. Once she and Cardan were seated next to Oak, servants brought in silver tureens of cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, turkey, cornbread, sweet potato casserole and many other dishes. 

Once everyone had served themselves and started to eat, Madoc started to ask questions to both Jude and Taryn about their boyfriends and what-not. Jude was worried that Cardan would make an epic slip-up just to spite her, but so far, it seemed like Oriana and Oak were charmed by him and Madoc was also getting increasingly amiable towards him. 

Just as she was starting to think that the dinner would go well, Locke started making snide comments under his breath. At first, Cardan ignored them, even though Jude had to take a few deep breaths to restrain from going over to Locke and punching him int he face. 

The sudden violent turn of her thoughts surprised her. It wasn’t that she wasn’t a violent person, but usually her protective instincts weren’t directed towards Cardan, of all people. However, before she could think about it more, Cardan stood up abruptly, nearly knocking his glass over. 

“This has nothing to do with Nicasia,” he said quietly, giving Locke a venomous look that Locke seemed to have no trouble returning.

One look at Taryn confirmed that she had no idea what Cardan and Locke were talking about either, or why they seemed to be trying to kill each other with their glares.

But before the argument could escalate further, Madoc cleared his throat, making everyone fall silent. Oriana immediately took that as an invitation and started to make small talk about inconsequential topics. For once, Jude let her prattle on without comment.

The rest of the dinner passed in stony silence, all of them only giving terse, one word answers when absolutely necessary. 

“What was that whole thing about?” Jude demanded- the question that she had kept repressed during the drive spilling out once they stood outside the dorm building. “I thought that the two of you just had a falling out from an argument. What does Nicasia have to do with any of it?”

She saw him take a deep breath in the dim light, almost as if steeling himself for the truth and she was just about to tell him he didn’t have to tell her before he began to speak.

“Locke and I did have a falling out, but it wasn’t a s simple as a disagreement. You know how I used to date Nicasia?” At Jude’s nod he continued speaking, “Well, I found them kissing in my dorm once when I came home early from class. It seemed that they also had too much to drink so they spilled that they had been hooking up for nearly 2 weeks and that I never meant anything to her- Locke was the one that she really wanted. I cut all ties with them the next day,” he finished, his voice laced with bitterness. 

Jude was horrified. No one deserved to be treated like that, especially not Cardan. Even though he was an annoying asshole, he was smart, ambitious, persistent and a hard-worker.

“Cardan I-” Jude started to say before Cardan cut her off. 

“No sorry, never mind, it doesn’t matter. After all, who can stand be with me or around me?” and with a hollow mockery of the crooked smile Jude knew so well, he ran up to his dorm and didn’t look back, leaving Jude speechless in front of the building.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, I can be found on Tumblr at @b00kworm. Comments and kudos are always welcome and appreciated!


End file.
